30 THE ATRIUM VEST. 
height of the concrete foundations of the new court on the north, which 
projected 60 centimeters beyond the front wall. These foundations, which 
are but a few centimeters lower than the pavement of the new rooms, must 
have been, at the time they were built, below the level of the garden and 
concealed by it.2, Moreover, in front of the exedra traces remain of a sewer, 
the top of which is but a little lower than the pavement of the rooms under 
which it ran. This sewer, traces of which may still be seen on the right of 
the steps leading to the exedra, must also have been originally below the 
level of the garden. It is clear, therefore, that the garden was either raised 
consistently to the level of the new rooms or, as seems more probable, made 
to slope gradually up to them. The walls of the new building, with a few 
exceptions, are still standing to a considerable height, though they have 
suffered much from restoration in the next period.’ 
Arrangement and Description of the Rooms: Since the time of Auer‘ these 
rooms have been generally recognized® as belonging to one period and as 
forming a distinct group by themselves.* That this conclusion is correct 
is very evident from their harmony in architectural plan and their uniformity 
in methods of construction.? The concrete foundations are, moreover, 
continuous in structure, as are the walls themselves, except at one point. 
The level of the floors also is the same throughout, though the foundations 
of the court on the north are 75 centimeters higher than the rest.® 
The plan of the new group of rooms is simple. The center of the group 
is a large hall,® out of which open three smaller rooms” on either side. Be- 
yond these rooms, and connected with them by large windows, there are 
two smaller halls," or courts, which, like the central hall, opened directly 
upon the garden. At the northern end of the group were two small rooms,” 
the entrance to which was from the adjoining court. The new group of 
rooms, when viewed in its relation to the plan of the Atrium as a whole,” is 
marked by a slight irregularity in position. ‘This irregularity, however, 
which consists in the location of the central hall almost 3 meters to the 
south of the main axis of the court on the west, was not so apparent at the 
1 When the level of the east end of the central The exact limits of the group on the north and 
court and of the adjoining rooms on the south have not been recognized by previous 
north was lowered, these foundations were writers. Cf. Richter, /.c., 90. Huelsen- 
chiseled off, except where a later wall had Carter, Roman Forum, 206 and 213. 
been built on top of them. See p. 43, and 7 This is especially marked in the almost unbroken 
plate v1, fig. 2. lines of bonding-courses throughout the 
2 Also the foundations of the walls along the sides whole structure. 
of the later court projected originally beyond 8 The reason of this change is not clear. It was 
the walls. due, probably, to local conditions, which 
3The brickwork of the two periods differs but are no longer apparent. 
slightly. It is, therefore, at times scarcely Plan C, 35. 
distinguishable. Plan CF 32-34, 36-38. 
* Auer, Der Tempel der Vesta, 9. uPlan C, 31 and 39. 
5 Cf. Richter, /. c. 90; Huelsen-Carter, Roman Plan C, 29-30. 
Forum, 206 and 213. Plan C. 
